The region of Northern Italy famous for arms and armor for 500 years kept metal working craftsmanship alive until cars appeared a spawned Ferrari, Lamborghini and a dozens smaller makers.
One reason to take your helmet off, mid-battle, is so you could enjoy some mid-day Erbolata cheese and herb tart with a goblet of Nebbiolo wine.
Everyone understands this, and politely point their spears and pikes elsewhere.
We taught the world how to eat.

Hey, can you weigh in as to how often we actually had battles with that many dudes decked to the gills in plate armor? From my understanding, they were insanely expensive and not really transferrable since they were made to fit.
Heavily depends on the war and the period. Dedicated mercenary companies, like those which handled much of Italian internecine warfare at the time, were often well-armored. There are… maybe 20 here, on both sides, fully armored, while it would be very reasonable for an army to have a significant percentage of their main body of troops fairly fully armored. In the English War of the Roses, there are battles where maybe a fifth of the entire army is likely armored something like this.
Other troops in the main body may have been equipped with some form of cheaper munitions plate; at this point, mail was largely relegated to an auxiliary position. The light infantry, if armored, would likely have worn brigandines or jack of plates
Thank you!



